Global InformationPort Harcourt information
Port Harcourt | |
|---|---|
Metropolis | |
 Port Harcourt | |
 Seal | |
| Nickname(s): PH-City, P.H.[1] and Garden City[2][3] | |
  Port Harcourt Map of Nigeria showing the location of Port Harcourt in Nigeria. Ralph Moore, Chief Oju Daniel Kalio and William Harcourt signed the 1913 agreement for the area now known as Port Harcourt. | |
| Coordinates: 4°49′27″N 7°2′1″E / 4.82417°N 7.03361°E | |
| Country | Nigeria |
| State | Rivers |
| LGA(s) | Port Harcourt Obio-Akpor Okrika Eleme |
| Founded | 1912 |
| Incorporation | 1913[3] |
| Named for | Lewis Vernon Harcourt |
| Government | |
| • Type | Mayor–Council |
| • Body | Port Harcourt City Council |
| • Mayor | Allwell Ihunda[4] |
| Area [5][6] | |
| • Metropolis | 369 km2 (142 sq mi) |
| • Land | 360 km2 (140 sq mi) |
| • Water | 9 km2 (3 sq mi) |
| • Urban | 158 km2 (61 sq mi) |
| • Metro | 1,900 km2 (700 sq mi) |
| Population (2006 census)[8][9] | |
| • Metropolis | 1,005,904 |
| • Estimate (2019) | 1,148,665 |
| • Density | 2,700/km2 (7,100/sq mi) |
| • Urban | 1,865,000 |
| • Urban density | 12,000/km2 (31,000/sq mi) |
| • Metro | 2,344,000.[7] |
| Demonym | Portians[10] |
| GDP (PPP, constant 2015 values) | |
| • Year | 2023 |
| • Total | $34.4 billion[11] |
| • Per capita | $9,900 |
| Time zone | UTC+1 (WAT) |
| Postcode | 500[12] |
| Area code(s) | 084[13] |
| Climate | Am |
Port Harcourt (Pidgin: Po-ta-kot or Pi-ta-kwa) is the capital and largest city of Rivers State in Nigeria.[14] It is the fifth most populous city in Nigeria after Lagos, Kano, Ibadan and Benin.[15][16] It lies along the Bonny River and is located in the oil rich Niger Delta. As of 2023, Port Harcourt's urban population is estimated at 3,480,000.[17] The population of the metropolitan area of Port Harcourt is almost twice its urban area population with a 2015 United Nations estimate of 2,344,000.[7] In 1950, the population of Port Harcourt was 59,752. Port Harcourt has grown by 150,844 since 2015, which represents a 4.99% annual change.[18]
The area that became Port Harcourt in 1912 was before that of a farmland of people of Rebisi (Ikwerre). The colonial administration of Nigeria created the port to export coal from the collieries of Enugu located 243 kilometres (151 mi) north of Port Harcourt,[19] to which it was linked by a railway called the Eastern Line, also built by the British.[2][19][20]
Port Harcourt's economy turned to petroleum[21] when the first shipment of Nigerian crude oil was exported through the city in 1958.[22] Through the benefits of the Nigerian petroleum industry, Port Harcourt was further developed, with aspects of modernization such as overpasses, city blocks, and taller and more substantial buildings.[3] Oil firms that currently have offices in the city include Shell and Chevron.[23]
There are a number of public and private tertiary institutions in Port Harcourt. These institutions include Rivers State University, University of Port Harcourt, Ken Saro Wiwa Polytechnic, Captain Elechi Amadi Polytechnic, Ignatius Ajuru University, Rivers State College of Health Science and Technology, Madonna University, PAMO University of Medical Sciences, National Open University of Nigeria. The current mayor is Victor Ihunwo. Port Harcourt's primary airport is Port Harcourt International Airport, located on the outskirts of the city; the NAF base is the location of the only other airport and is used by commercial airlines Aero Contractors and Air Nigeria for domestic flights.[24]
- ^ "Celebrating Port Harcourt At 100". The Tide News Online. 22 November 2013. Archived from the original on 3 May 2014. Retrieved 29 March 2014.
- ^ a b Williams, Lizzie (2008). Nigeria: The Bradt Travel Guide. Bradt Travel Guides. p. 200. ISBN 9781841622392.
- ^ a b c Hudgens, Jim; Trillo, Richard (2003). The rough guide to West Africa (4 ed.). Rough Guides. p. 1075. ISBN 1-843-53118-6.
- ^ "Mayor of Port Harcourt becomes Dolphins' No. 1 fan". Goal.com. Perform Group. 8 June 2013. Archived from the original on 7 July 2015. Retrieved 29 March 2014.
- ^ "Rivers Population Statistics". City Population.de. Archived from the original on 31 March 2016. Retrieved 7 September 2016.
- ^ Agbedeyi (11 May 2015). "Feeding Patterns of Children in Day Care Centres of Port Harcourt Metropolis". Archived from the original on 2 February 2017. Retrieved 7 September 2016.
- ^ a b "World Urbanization Prospects 2018. Annual Population of Urban Agglomerations with 300,000 or more". population.un.org. Retrieved 19 January 2023.
- ^ Summing the 2 LGAs Port Harcourt as per:
"FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA : 2006 Population Census" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 March 2012. Retrieved 25 July 2016. - ^ Urban area: Demographia (January 2015). Demographia World Urban Areas (PDF) (11th ed.). Archived (PDF) from the original on 5 August 2011. Retrieved 7 September 2016.
- ^ Arizona-Ogwu, L.Chinedu (16 February 2011). "Port Harcourt PDP Rally Stampede: Irregular Or Deregulated Police Action?". Nigerians In America. Archived from the original on 25 June 2014. Retrieved 25 June 2014.
- ^ "TelluBase—Nigeria Fact Sheet (Tellusant Public Service Series)" (PDF). Tellusant. Retrieved 11 January 2024.
- ^ "Nipost Postcode Map". Nigerian Postal Service. Archived from the original on 26 November 2012. Retrieved 28 October 2010.
- ^ Williams, Lizzie (2008). Nigeria: The Bradt Travel Guide. Bradt Travel Guides. p. 87. ISBN 978-1-84162-239-2.
- ^ "Port Harcourt | Location, Facts, & Population". Britannica. Retrieved 4 March 2022.
- ^ "Population of Cities in Nigeria (2021)". worldpopulationreview.com. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
- ^ "Nigeria: cities with the largest population 2021". Statista. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
- ^ "Port Harcourt Population 2023".
- ^ "Port Harcourt, Nigeria Metro Area Population 1950–2021". macrotrends.net. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
- ^ a b Nigeria, Chief Secretary's Office (1933). The Nigeria handbook (10 ed.). Eastern Line: Government Printer, Lagos. p. 83.
- ^ Udo, Reuben K. (1970). Geographical Regions of Nigeria. University of California Press. p. 85.
- ^ "Port Harcourt". dentons.com. Retrieved 26 February 2022.
- ^ Ogbuigwe, Anthony (1 December 2018). "Refining in Nigeria: history, challenges and prospects". Applied Petrochemical Research. 8 (4): 181–192. doi:10.1007/s13203-018-0211-z. ISSN 2190-5533. S2CID 170015640.
- ^ Ekeinde, Austin (28 October 2010). "Slum demolition plan ups tension in Nigeria oil hub". Reuters Africa. p. 2. Archived from the original on 14 June 2012. Retrieved 28 October 2010.
- ^ Williams, Lizzie (2008). Nigeria: The Bradt Travel Guide. Bradt Travel Guides. p. 203. ISBN 9781841622392.